Memorandum by Earley Town Council (STA
08)
You have invited comments on various points
concerning the role and effectiveness of the Standards Board.
Earley Town Council wishes to make the following
observations:
1. We feel it takes a long time for the
Board to reach its decisions.
2. We observe that the majority of cases
dealt with by the Board to date are complaints by a Councillor
against another Councillor. Members felt that this was often politically
based. If these cases were eliminated, the work of the Standards
Board would decrease significantly.
3. Members felt that there was a lack of
knowledge sometimes, in the Standards Board, of planning law and
procedures at Local Government level. This was with particular
reference to the importance of propriety in reaching planning
decisions. Members thought that this, apparently, was not always
uppermost in the minds of the Standards Board itself.
I trust that you will be able to incorporate
these comments in submissions to be made to the Housing Planning,
Local Government and the Regions Committee of ODPM.
Town Clerk
| 
